The present invention relates to a process and apparatus for utilizing animal excrement and, more particularly, to a process for the manufacture of an animal excrement based product useful as an artificial soil, soil conditioner or peat substitute, an apparatus for effecting the process and an animal excrement based product useful as an artificial soil, soil conditioner or peat substitute manufactured according to the process.
The need for soil conditioning in agriculture (especially in small-scale agriculture known as "market gardening") and in horticulture, is well known, for example, in order to lighten clayey soils, to improve the consistency of sandy soils and particularly to improve the moisture-holding capacity of many kinds of soils.
Peat is a carbonaceous substance--probably an intermediate in the formation of lignite and coal--formed by partial decomposition of certain plants growing in bogs and swamps, and, apart from its well-known use as a fuel, is popularly used, because of its open porous texture and high water-absorptive capacity, as a soil conditioner. Additionally, peat is used as bedding material for livestock, e.g., cattle and horses (including racehorses).
However, because of ecological problems, a number of countries have forbidden the mining of peat; moreover, in countries where peat is not mined locally, the cost of transportation from the countries of origin can make this product prohibitively expensive. For these reasons, there is a need in the market, particularly in countries where peat is expensive, for a peat-substitute having similar properties to natural peat.
While animals have been utilized for human needs for many centuries, it is only in the modern era, with a much greater density of the human population and increasing awareness of problems associated with ecology, health and hygiene, that it has been realized that animal excrement (including particularly, but not limited to, that of herbivorous animals which are customarily bred farmed and otherwise used on a large-scale), can present environmental problems such as biological pollution e.g., of the air, ground and water.
For this reason, use of raw animal excrement directly as a manure is to be avoided. The removal and economic utilization of animal excrement is therefore highly desirable. While this need has been met in part by artificial composting, such a process requires, for viability, a large-scale operation using expensive equipment for aerobic and anaerobic operation, and is unsuitable for relatively small-scale operations.
Natural composting, on the other hand, requires a lot of space, is labor-intensive, and does not avoid environmental hazards. Thus, the need for economic utilization of animal excrement still remains. It has surprisingly been found by the present inventors that both, the need for a peat-substitute and the need for useful and economic disposal of the excrement of animals in captivity can both be met by the process and apparatus of the present invention.
There is thus a widely recognized need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have, (i) a process for the manufacture of an animal excrement based product useful as an artificial soil, soil conditioner or peat substitute, (ii) an apparatus for effecting the process and (iii) an animal excrement based product useful as an artificial soil, soil conditioner or peat substitute manufactured according to the process.